Welcome to our luxxee magazine weekly wrap-up, where we bring you fresh news about what's going on in the watch world.
A New Challenger Approaches. A Rainbow Patek
Everyone that is deep in watch collecting knows about the Rolex Rainbow Daytona. For those that don’t know, it's a Rolex Daytona with multi-coloured sapphire baguette indices and a multi-coloured sapphire baguette bezel with diamond-encrusted lugs. In other words, this is a gem set Daytona that some people hate, but others adore. I’m in the camp of love. While other brands have tried to follow in Rolex’s rainbow wake, such as Hublot and AP, no one has come close to the prestige of the Rainbow Daytona. A few days ago, Patek announced they would also go rainbow with their newest iteration of the Aquanaut.
Patek has presented us with the new Aquanaut Luce “Rainbow” ref. 7968/300R-001. A white dial Aquanaut with a 39.9mm rose gold case, crown, pushers and accents, 50 baguette diamonds and 52 coloured baguette sapphires.
I never get tired of “rainbow” watches because of the colours. While all the rainbow hype belongs to the Rainbow Daytona, it’s cool to see Patek enter the space with such a clean and classic take. While this watch is labelled as a “ladies” watch, it’s unisex (as all watches are, but you get what I mean.) This release is the first self-winding watch for Patek in the women’s category by implementing Calibre CH 28-520– a self-winding flyback chronograph movement.
The most prominent feature of the Aquanaut is the very obvious diamond and sapphire gem-set bezel and the gorgeous mother-of-pearl dial. Surrounding the inner bezel are 40 Top Wessleton diamonds, while 40 multi-coloured sapphires surround the outer. The gems are applied using Patek’s “invisible setting” technique which implements the gems to be set on “rails” which can’t be seen from outside the case. The mother-of-pearl dial has the Aquanaut motif engraved, 18k rose gold applied numerals, and 18k applied indices with rainbow baguette sapphires. The dial is a true marvel and a beautiful way to make the rest of the rainbow pop.
The NEW luxxee Library
Watch collecting is one of the most fun, unique and romantic hobbies that anyone could pick up and enjoy. However, getting into the hobby isn’t the easiest due to the number of options, brands, and many other variables; it can be very daunting. At luxxee, we support everything in the world of horology, but the biggest thing is making watch collecting accessible in all aspects for all collectors at any level. Just starting or a passionate enthusiast, we love to ensure that all persons have the best experience possible out of this hobby and on our site.
If there’s one thing I love about being a team member here at Luxxee, it’s the creative minds that think of the most incredible ways to answer all the questions you may have while on your horological journey. You might be asking yourself, how would luxxee be able to help me?
Introducing the new luxxee Library. A space to learn what makes your watch tick. luxxee Library is designed and built for new or experienced collectors to gain information about wristwatches.
Ranging from topics such as maintenance and care to watch styles and complications, the luxxee Library can answer (almost) all your burning questions about all things wristwatches. The best part is everything is kept in one convenient place, so you don’t need to bookmark multiple sites just to figure out how your watch works or what works best for you. We’ve got you covered.
Seiko x Honda - The Tale of Two Japanese Icons
In all forms of motorsports, watch brands are often the main sponsors for racing series, events, teams and drivers. Brands such as Tissot, Rolex, Omega, IWC and TAG Heuer are the best examples of brands with many years of motorsports history. Seiko has shown interest in the world of racing with their most recent collaboration with Honda, specifically inspired by the JDM-exclusive Super Cub.
For those who don’t know, the Honda Super Cub was a 49cc underbone motorcycle (which uses structural tube framing with a plastic overlay ) first produced in 1958. After a trip to Germany in 1956 by Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa, both men noticed a great incline in lightweight motorcycles and mopeds. Seeing this increase in popularity started the development of a light, high-quality bike. Two years later, the Super Cub C100 was born. Fast forward to today, the modern Super Cub is a 125cc motorcycle with some vintage aesthetics while maintaining its modernity. With its ever-increasing popularity, the Super Cub is one of the highest-sold motorcycles in the world, with a staggering 100 million units sold.
The new collaboration between Seiko and Honda features two watches with the design of the 5KX (the Seiko 5 Sports replacement for the SKX.) The new SRPJ49 (based on the JDM exclusive colour for the Super Cub, Tasmania Metallic Green) features a stainless steel case and a red translucent case back, a representation of the brake light on a Super Cub. The SPRJ75 (Black/Grey, which is the international colour) features a DLC black case and crown with the exact case back as the SRPJ49.
The best part of the watch is the dial. It may look like a dial with a weird design, but if you look closer, you see the front end of a Super Cub. The dial's green/light grey sections represent the motorcycle's front end, while the cream/charcoal sides represent the bodywork. Markers at 11 and 1 o’clock represent the turn signals, and the marker at 12 represents the headlight. The last feature on the dial is the Super Cub emblem just above 6 o’clock.
Both watches come equipped with a colour-matched nato, with the design matching the dial, the Super Cub emblem and the famous Honda “wing” logo. Bringing this Honda-themed beauty to life is none other than the Seiko 4R36 automatic movement. Seiko uses this movement in their entire Seiko 5 catalogue due to its reliability and consistency. You can never go wrong with this movement. The 4R36 features hacking, hand winding and a day/date complication.
Motorcycle-themed watches are hard to come by, and they’re challenging to design and make appealing to collectors. Seiko always has creative ways to make gorgeous themed watches, and this collaboration with Honda is no exception.
Thank you for reading luxxee's weekly wrap-up and don't forget to come back next week to see what’s happening in the watch world!
